Systems and methods for managing data, such as metadata. In one exemplary method, metadata from files created by several different software applications are captured, and the captured metadata is searched. The type of information in metadata for one type of file differs from the type of information in metadata for another type of file. Other methods are described and data processing systems and machine readable media are also described.
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1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
storing, at a computing device, a plurality of data tiles and associated metadata objects, wherein the data tiles are associated with a plurality of applications within a system, wherein each metadata object includes a persistent identifier that uniquely identities an associated data file, wherein each data tile has a name, and wherein the persistent identifier remains the same when a tile name is changed or when a data file is modified; and
receiving an input, wherein the input causes creation of a new data file, or modification of an existing data file, wherein:
when the input indicates creation of a new data file, a metadata object including a persistent identifier is generated and associated with the new data file, and one or more appropriate importers are determined, wherein the one or more appropriate importers are used to import metadata from the associated data file, and
when the input indicates modification of an existing data file, a persistent identifier is used to identify an associated metadata object, and one or more appropriate importers are determined, wherein the one or more appropriate importers are used to import metadata from the associated data file.
9. A computer-program product, tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, including instructions configured to cause a data processing apparatus to:
store a plurality of data files and associated metadata objects, wherein the data files are associated with a plurality of applications within a system, wherein each metadata object includes a persistent identifier that uniquely identifies an associated data file, wherein each data tile has a name, and wherein the persistent identifier remains the same when a file name is changed or when a data file is modified, and
receive an input, wherein the input causes creation of a new data file, or modification of an existing data file, wherein:
when the input indicates creation of a new data file, a metadata object including a persistent identifier is generated and associated with the new data file, and one or more appropriate importers are determined, wherein the one or more appropriate importers are used to import metadata from the associated data file, and
when the input indicates modification of an existing data file, a persistent identifier is used to identify an associated metadata object, and one or more appropriate importers are determined, wherein the one or more appropriate importers are used to import metadata from the associated data file.
5. A system, comprising:
one or more processors;
a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions configured to cause the one or more processors to perform operations, including:
storing a plurality of data files and associated metadata objects, wherein the data files are associated with a plurality of applications within a system, wherein each metadata object includes a persistent identifier that uniquely identifies an associated data file, wherein each data file has a name, and wherein the persistent identifier remains the same when a file name is changed or when a data file is modified; and
receiving an input, wherein the input causes creation of a new data file, or modification of an existing data file, wherein:
when the input indicates creation of a new data file, a metadata object including a persistent identifier is generated and associated with the new data file, and one or more appropriate importers are determined, wherein the one or more appropriate importers are used to import metadata from the associated data file, and
when the input indicates modification of an existing data file, a persistent identifier is used to identify an associated metadata object, and one or more appropriate importers are determined, wherein the one or more appropriate importers are used to import metadata from the associated data file.
2. The method of
3. The method of
4. The method of
6. The system of
7. The system of
8. The system of
10. The computer-program product of
11. The computer-program product of
12. The computer-program product of
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This application is a divisional application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/877,584, filed Jun. 25, 2004 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,730,012.
Modern data processing systems, such as general purpose computer systems, allow the users of such systems to create a variety of different types of data files. For example, a typical user of a data processing system may create text files with a word processing program such as Microsoft Word or may create an image file with an image processing program such as Adobe's PhotoShop. Numerous other types of files are capable of being created or modified, edited, and otherwise used by one or more users for a typical data processing system. The large number of the different types of files that can be created or modified can present a challenge to a typical user who is seeking to find a particular file which has been created.
Modern data processing systems often include a file management system which allows a user to place files in various directories or subdirectories (e.g. folders) and allows a user to give the file a name. Further, these file management systems often allow a user to find a file by searching for the file's name, or the date of creation, or the date of modification, or the type of file. An example of such a file management system is the Finder program which operates on Macintosh computers from Apple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Another example of a file management system program is the Windows Explorer program which operates on the Windows operating system from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. Both the Finder program and the Windows Explorer program include a find command which allows a user to search for files by various criteria including a file name or a date of creation or a date of modification or the type of file. However, this search capability searches through information which is the same for each file, regardless of the type of file. Thus, for example, the searchable data for a Microsoft Word file is the same as the searchable data for an Adobe PhotoShop file, and this data typically includes the file name, the type of file, the date of creation, the date of last modification, the size of the file and certain other parameters which may be maintained for the file by the file management system.
Certain presently existing application programs allow a user to maintain data about a particular file. This data about a particular file may be considered metadata because it is data about other data. This metadata for a particular file may include information about the author of a file, a summary of the document, and various other types of information. A program such as Microsoft Word may automatically create some of this data when a user creates a file and the user may add additional data or edit the data by selecting the “property sheet” from a menu selection in Microsoft Word. The property sheets in Microsoft Word allow a user to create metadata for a particular file or document. However, in existing systems, a user is not able to search for metadata across a variety of different applications using one search request from the user. Furthermore, existing systems can perform one search for data files, but this search does not also include searching through metadata for those files.
Methods for managing data in a data processing system and systems for managing data are described herein.
A method of managing data in one exemplary embodiment includes capturing metadata from a plurality of files created by a plurality of different software applications which execute on a data processing system. The type of information in the metadata for the files of a first software application differs from the type of information in metadata for files of a second software application. This captured metadata may be searched. In one embodiment, this search may occur concurrently for all of the metadata from the different files created by or used by the different software applications. In one implementation of this method, a single search interface may be provided to search all of the metadata for all of the different files created by the different software applications, thereby allowing a single search to search through all of the metadata for all of the files created by the different software applications. Further, the single search may also search through non-metadata such as the indexed (or non-indexed) content of the actual data files.
According to another aspect of the invention, an exemplary method includes capturing metadata from a plurality of different files created by a plurality of different software applications and storing the metadata on a storage medium in a flat file format. Another aspect relates to a flat file format for the metadata on the storage medium.
Another aspect of the present invention relates to various user interfaces which may be provided by a system to allow a user to search through the metadata. In one exemplary embodiment of such a user interface, the method includes capturing metadata from a plurality of files created by a plurality of different software applications and displaying a search input interface for searching through the metadata, wherein the type of information in metadata for files of a first software application differs from the type of information in metadata for files of a second software application. Various implementations of user interfaces are discussed for search input and also for the presentation (e.g. display) of search results. For example, the search results may be displayed in multiple different formats (e.g. list view, icon view, column view) and they may be displayed with headers or titles which separate the groups of matches in a search results list. Further, the displayed results may be limited to a predetermined number (or a dynamically generated number) for each category so that a limited viewing can still display multiple categories within a search result window. Further, a search query can be saved as a folder which appears within a user configurable portion of the search results window, and a selection of the folder causes another search to be performed using the saved search query (sometimes also referred to as search criteria). A display of the search results from the saved search query can then be sorted or further searched to limit the results to a subset of the original matches from the saved search query. Numerous other user interface implementations are shown and described. Another user interface feature includes the ability to provide both a list view and another view (e.g. icon view) for different portions (e.g. different categories) of a search results window.
Another aspect of the present invention relates to a software architecture for managing metadata. One exemplary embodiment of this architecture includes a first plurality of application programs which are capable of creating a plurality of different data files and a metadata management program which is coupled through programming interfaces with the first plurality of application programs and which is coupled to a file system storage of metadata which is captured from files created by the first plurality of application programs. Normally, the type of information in metadata for files of a first application program differs from the type of information in metadata for files of a second application program. The metadata management program is also coupled to other (non-metadata) sources of information about the data files such as an indexed database of the full text content of the data files and software which is capable of searching this indexed database. Search queries which are directed to the metadata may also be concurrently directed to the non-metadata sources so that the search results include matches from both the metadata and the non-metadata sources, and these searches, through both metadata and non-metadata sources, may be in response to a single search query or a single search request or command and these searches may be performed concurrently.
Another aspect of the inventions described herein relates to one or more importers which interact with new or modified files created by different application programs. These one or more importers may be invoked (e.g. called) by the application programs or by an operating system component (e.g. a metadata processing software) which responds to a call from the application programs or from an operating system kernel. In one particular example, an importer is called by a metadata processing software in response to a notification from an OS kernel that a new file has been created or an existing file has been modified; in this case, the particular importer called by the metadata processing system will typically depend upon the type of file (e.g. text file or image file or MP3 file, etc.), although one, single importer for all file types on a system may be used regardless of the type of file. An importer will typically specify a file path name for the extracted metadata and specify selected data to be extracted and written into the file path name of the file containing the extracted metadata.
Another aspect of the inventions described herein relates to performing a search through a system while receiving input from a user, where the search is through a plurality of data files created by different software applications on a data processing system. In an exemplary method of this aspect, the data processing system begins a search through the plurality of data files as the user enters input and before the user completes the entry of the search query. Thus, a user may enter a search (“quick brown fox”) and before the user has entered “fox,” the data processing system has searched through, or begins to search through, the plurality of data files created by different software applications and has displayed the list of matches to the partial search query “quick brown” (or at least begins to display a partial list of matches to the partial search query “quick brown”). This search may be performed through the plurality of data files as well as the metadata for the plurality of data files, wherein the type of information in metadata for files of a first software application differs from the type of information in metadata for files of a second software application. The search results may be sorted by relevancy, and the system may display first only a partial list of matches and then, in response to a user request, display all the matches. The search results may be organized by categories (e.g. see
Another aspect of the inventions relates to a method of selecting a group of items, such as a group of individual data files. In an exemplary method of this aspect, a data processing system receives a selection of a plurality of items such as data files, folders (e.g. graphical user interface representations of subdirectories), application programs or a combination of one or more of these items. This selection may be performed by one of the many conventional ways to select a plurality of items such as (a) pointing a cursor at each item individually (e.g. through movement of a mouse) and indicating a selection individually by, for example, pressing and releasing a button such as a mouse's button; (b) pointing a cursor at a first item in a list and indicating a selection of the first item and pointing the cursor at a last item in a list of items and indicating a selection of all items from the first item to the last item in the list; (c) drawing a selection rectangle by a dragging operation of the cursor, etc. After the selection of the plurality of items has been received, the data processing system receives a command to create a new folder and add or move, e.g. in one operation, the selected plurality of items into the new folder. The add operation creates the new folder (optionally with a name specified by the user as a result of a prompt or request by the system) and copies the selected files into the new folder, which represents a new subdirectory. This add operation is in response to the single command which requests that a new folder be created and that copies of the selected items be created and stored with a path name reflecting storage within the new folder. The move operation also creates a new folder (optionally with a name specified by the user as a result of a prompt or request by the system) and may merely change the path names associated with each of the selected items, which changed path names reflect the new file system location (within the subdirectory of the new folder) of the selected items.
Other aspects of the present invention include various data processing systems which perform these methods and machine readable media which perform various methods described herein.
The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements.
The subject invention will be described with reference to numerous details set forth below, and the accompanying drawings will illustrate the invention. The following description and drawings are illustrative of the invention and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. Numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, in certain instances, well known or conventional details are not described in order to not unnecessarily obscure the present invention in detail.
The present description includes material protected by copyrights, such as illustrations of graphical user interface images. The owners of the copyrights, including the assignee of the present invention, hereby reserve their rights, including copyright, in these materials. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights whatsoever. Copyright Apple Computer, Inc. 2003.
As shown in
It will be apparent from this description that aspects of the present invention may be embodied, at least in part, in software. That is, the techniques may be carried out in a computer system or other data processing system in response to its processor, such as a microprocessor, executing sequences of instructions contained in a memory, such as ROM 107, RAM 105, mass storage 106 or a remote storage device. In various embodiments, hardwired circuitry may be used in combination with software instructions to implement the present invention. Thus, the techniques are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software nor to any particular source for the instructions executed by the data processing system. In addition, throughout this description, various functions and operations are described as being performed by or caused by software code to simplify description. However, those skilled in the art will recognize what is meant by such expressions is that the functions result from execution of the code by a processor, such as the microprocessor 103.
Capturing and Use of Metadata Across a Variety of Application Programs
The method of
The method of
Cop-
ied
Item
Parent in
Multi-
User
with
App
name
hierarchy
Attribute name
Description/Notes
CFType
value
Localized
settable
Gettable
copy
viewable
Item
n/a
Authors
Who created or contributed
CFString
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Address
to the contents of this item
Book
Comment
A free form text comment
CFString
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
ContentType
This is the type that is
CFString
No
?
No
Yes
Yes
determined by UTI
ContentTypes
This is the inheritance of the
CFString
Yes
?
No
Yes
Yes
UTI system
CreatedDate
When was this item created
CFDate
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
DisplayName
The name of the item as the
CFString
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Finder (or
user would like to read it.
Launch
Very well may be the file
Services)
name, but it may also be the
subject of an e-mail message
or the full name of a person,
for example.
Keywords
This is a list words set by the
CFString
Yes
System-
Yes
Yes
Ask
user to identify arbitrary sets
provided
of organization. The scope is
keywords
determined by the user and
(if any)
can be flexibly used for any
kind of organization. For
example, Family, Hawaii,
Project X, etc.
Contact Keywords
A list of contacts that are
CFString
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Ask
Address
associated with this
Book
document, beyond what is
captured as Author. This
may be a person who's in the
picture or a document about a
person or contact
(performance review,
contract)
ModifiedDate
When this item was last
CFDate
No
No
No
Yes
modified
Rating
A relative rating (0 to 5
CFNumber
No
n/a
Yes
Yes
value) on how important a
particular item is to you,
whether it's a person, file or
message
RelatedTos
A list of other items that are
CFString
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
arbitrarily grouped together.
TextContent
An indexed version of any
CFString
No
No
No
Yes
content text
UsedDates
Which days was the
CFDate
Yes
No
No
Yes
document
opened/viewed/played
Content/
Item
Copyright
Specifies the owner of this
CFString
No
No
Yes
Yes
Data
content, i.e. Copyright Apple
Computer, Inc.
CreatorApp
Keeps track of the application
CFString
No
?
No
Yes
that was used to create this
document (if it's known).
Languages
The languages that this
CFString
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
document is composed in (for
either text or audio-based
media)
ParentalControl
A field that is used to
CFString
No
?
Yes
Yes
determine whether this is kid-
friendly content or not
Publishers
The name or a person or
CFString
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Address
organization that published
Book
this content.
PublishedDate
The original date that this
CFDate
No
No
Yes
Yes
content was published (if it
was), independent of created
date.
Reviewers
A list of contacts who have
CFString
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Address
reviewed the contents of this
Book
file. This would have to be
set explicitly by an
application.
ReviewStatus
Free form text that used to
CFString
No
?
Yes
Yes
specify where the document
is in any arbitrary review
process
TimeEdited
Total time spent editing
CFDate
No
No
No
Yes
document
WhereTos
Where did this go to, eg. CD,
CFString
Yes
System-
?
Yes
printed, backedup
provided
words
only
(if any)
WhereFroms
Where did this come from,
CFString
Yes
System-
?
Yes
e.g. camera, email, web
provided
download, CD
words
only
(if any)
Image
Data
BitsPerSample
What is the bit depth of the
CFNumber
No
Yes
image (8-bit, 16-bit, etc.)
ColorSpace
What color space model is
CFString
No
Yes
ColorSync
this document following
Utility?
ImageHeight
The height of the image in
CFNumber
No
Yes
pixels
ImageWidth
The width of the image in
CFNumber
No
Yes
pixels
ProfileName
The name of the color profile
CFString
No
Yes
ColorSync
used with for image
Utility?
ResolutionWidth
Resolution width of this
CFNumber
No
Yes
image (i.e. dpi from a
scanner)
ResolutionHeight
Resolution height of this
CFNumber
No
Yes
image (i.e. dpi from a
scanner)
LayerNames
For image formats that
CFString
Yes
Yes
contain “named” layers (e.g.
Photoshop files)
Aperture
The f-stop rating of the
CFNumber
No
Yes
camera when the image was
taken
CameraMake
The make of the camera that
CFString
No
Yes
Yes
was used to acquire this
image (e.g. Nikon)
CameraModel
The model of the camera
CFString
No
Yes
Yes
used to acquire this image
(Coolpix 5700)
DateTimeOriginal
Date/time the picture was
CFDate
No
Yes
taken
ExposureMode
Mode that was used for the
CFString
No
Yes
exposure
ExposureTime
Time that the lens was
CFDate
No
Yes
exposed while taking the
picture
Flash
This attribute is overloaded
CFNumber
No
Yes
with information about red-
eye reduction. This is not a
binary value
GPS
Raw value received from
CFString
No
Yes
GPS device associated with
photo acquisition. It hasn't
necessarily been translated to
a user-understandable
location.
ISOSpeed
The ISO speed the camera
CFNumber
No
Yes
was set to when the image
was acquired
Orientation
The orientation of the camera
CFString
No
Yes
when the image was acquired
WhiteBalance
The white balance setting of
CFNumber
No
Yes
the camera when the picture
was taken
EXIFversion
The version of EXIF that was
CFString
No
Yes
used to generate the metadata
for the image
Time-
Data
AcquisitionSources
The name or type of device
CFString
Yes
Yes
based
that used to acquire the media
Codecs
The codecs used to
CFString
Yes
Yes
encode/decode the media
DeliveryType
FastStart or RTSP
CFString
No
Yes
Duration
The length of time that the
CFNumber
No
Yes
media lasts
Streamable
Whether the content is
CFBoolean
No
Yes
prepared for purposes of
streaming
TotalBitRate
The total bit rate (audio &
CFNumber
No
Yes
video combined) of the
media.
AudioBitRate
The audio bit rate of the
CFNumber
No
Yes
media
AspectRatio
The aspect ratio of the video
CFString
No
Yes
of the media
ColorSpace
The color space model used
CFString
No
Yes
for the video aspect of the
media
FrameHeight
The frame height in pixels of
CFNumber
No
Yes
the video in the media
FrameWidth
The frame width in pixels of
CFNumber
No
Yes
the video in the media
ProfileName
The name of the color profile
CFString
No
Yes
used on the video portion of
the media
VideoBitRate
The bit rate of the video
CFNumber
No
Yes
aspect of the media
Text
Data
Subject
The subject of the text. This
CFString
No
Yes
could be metadata that's
supplied with the text or
something automatically
generated with technologies
like VTWIN
PageCount
The number of printable
CFNumber
No
Yes
pages of the document
LineCount
The number of lines in the
CFNumber
No
Yes
document
WordCount
The number of words in the
CFNumber
No
Yes
document
URL
The URL that will get you to
CFString
No
Yes
this document (or at least did
at one time). Relevant for
saved HTML documents,
bookmarks, RSS feeds, etc.
PageTitle
The title of a web page.
CFString
No
Yes
Relevant to HTML or
bookmark documents
Google Hierarchy
Structure of where this page
CFString
No
Yes
can be found in the Google
hierarchy. Relevant to
HTML or bookmark
documents
Com-
Data
<Abstract>
There are no specific
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
pound
attributes assigned to this
document
item. This is to catch all app-
specific file formats that fall
within Data, but don't fit into
any of the other types.
Typically these documents
have multiple types of media
embedded within
them. (e.g. P
PDF
Com-
NumberOfPages
The number of printable
CFNumber
No
Yes
pound
pages in the document
document
PageSize
The size of the page stored as
CFNumber
No
No
Yes
points
PDFTitle
PDF-specific title metadata
CFString
No
?
Yes
for the document
PDFAuthor
PDF-specific author metadata
CFString
No
?
Yes
Address
for the document
Book
PDFSubject
PDF-specific subject
CFString
No
?
Yes
metadata for the document
PDFKeywords
PDF-specific keywords
CFString
Yes
?
Yes
metadata for the document
PDFCreated
PDF-specific created
CFDate
No
?
Yes
metadata for the document
PDFModified
PDF-specific modified
CFDate
No
?
Yes
metadata for the document
PDFVersion
PDF-specific version
CFString
No
?
Yes
metadata for the document
SecurityMethod
Method by which this
CFString
No
Yes
document is kept secure
Pres-
Com-
SlideTitles
A collection of the titles on
CFString
Yes
Yes
entation
pound
slides
(Keynote)
document
SlideCount
The number of slides
CFString
No
Yes
SpeakerNotes
The content of all the speaker
CFString
?
Yes
Content
notes from all of the slides
together
Appli-
Item
Categories
The kind of application this
CFString
Yes
Yes
cation
is: productivity, games,
utility, graphics, etc. A set
list that
Message
Item
Recipients
Maps to To and Cc:
CFString
Yes
Yes
Address
addresses in a mail message.
Book
Priority
The priority of the message
CFString
No
Yes
as set by the sender
AttachmentNames
The list of filenames that
CFString
Yes
Yes
represent attachments in a
particular message (should be
actionable within the Finder)
Authors
maps to From address in mail
CFString
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Address
message
Book
Comment
Not applicable to Mail right
CFString
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
now (should we consider?)
ContentType
CFString
No
No
Yes
Yes
ContentTypes
CFString
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
CreatedDate
When was this message was
CFDate
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
sent or received
DisplayName
Subject of the message
CFString
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Keywords
There will be a way to set
CFString
Yes
System-
Yes
Yes
Ask
keywords within Mail
provided
keywords
(if any)
Contact Keywords
Could be where recipients are
CFString
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Ask
Address
held
Book
ModifiedDate
Not applicable
CFDate
No
No
No
Yes
Rating
A relative rating (0 to 5 stars)
CFNumber
No
n/a
Yes
Yes
on how important a particular
message is to you (separate
from a message's Priority)
RelatedTos
Potentially threaded messages
CFString
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
could be put into this
category
TextContent
An indexed version of the
CFString
No
No
No
Yes
mail message
UsedDates
The day/time in which the
CFDate
Yes
No
No
Yes
mail message was
viewed/read
Contact
Item
Company
The company that this contact
CFString
No
Yes
Address
is an employee of
Book
E-mails
A list of e-mail addresses that
CFString
Yes
Yes
Mail
this contact has
IMs
A list of instant message
CFString
Yes
Yes
iChat
handles this contact has
Phones
A list of phone numbers that
CFString
Yes
relate to this contact
Addresses
A list of physical addresses
CFString
Yes
that relate to this person
Authors
the name of the owner of the
CFString
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Address
Address Book (current user
Book
name)
Comment
CFString
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
ContentType
CFString
No
No
Yes
Yes
ContentTypes
CFString
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
CreatedDate
date the user entered this into
CFDate
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
his AddressBook (either
through import or direct
entry)
DisplayName
Composite name of contact
CFString
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
(First Name, Last Name)
Keywords
There will be a way to set
CFString
Yes
System-
Yes
Yes
Ask
keywords within Address
provided
Book
keywords
(if any)
Contact Keywords
CFString
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Ask
Address
Book
ModifiedDate
Last time this contact entry
CFDate
No
No
No
Yes
was modified
Rating
A relative rating (0 to 5 stars)
CFNumber
No
n/a
Yes
Yes
on how important a particular
contact is to you (separate
from a message's Priority)
RelatedTos
(potentially could be used to
CFString
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
associate people from the
same company or family)
TextContent
An indexed version of the
CFString
No
No
No
Yes
Notes section
UsedDates
The day/time in which the
CFDate
Yes
No
No
Yes
contact entry was viewed in
Address Book
Meeting
Item
Body
text, rich text or document
CFString
No
Yes
(TBD)
that represents the full
content of the event
Description
text describing the event
CFString
No
Yes
EventTimes
time/date the event starts
CFDate
Yes
Yes
Duration
The length of time that the
CFNumber
No
Yes
meeting lasts
Invitees
The list of people who are
CFString
Yes
Yes
Address
invited to the meeting
Book
Location
The name of the location
CFString
No
Yes
where the meeting is taking
place
One particular field which may be useful in the various metadata formats would be a field which includes an identifier of a plug in or other software element which may be used to capture metadata from a data file and/or export metadata back to the creator application.
Various different software architectures may be used to implement the functions and operations described herein. The following discussion provides one example of such an architecture, but it will be understood that alternative architectures may also be employed to achieve the same or similar results. The software architecture shown in
The software architecture 400 also includes a file system directory 417 for the metadata. This file system directory keeps track of the relationship between the data files and their metadata and keeps track of the location of the metadata object (e.g. a metadata file which corresponds to the data file from which it was extracted) created by each importer. In one exemplary embodiment, the metadata database is maintained as a flat file format as described below, and the file system directory 417 maintains this flat file format. One advantage of a flat file format is that the data is laid out on a storage device as a string of data without references between fields from one metadata file (corresponding to a particular data file) to another metadata file (corresponding to another data file). This arrangement of data will often result in faster retrieval of information from the metadata database 415.
The software architecture 400 of
The method of
It will be appreciated that the notification, if done through the OS kernel, is a global, system wide notification process such that changes to any file will cause a notification to be sent to the metadata processing software. It will also be appreciated that in alternative embodiments, each application program may itself generate the necessary metadata and provide the metadata directly to a metadata database without the requirement of a notification from an operating system kernel or from the intervention of importers, such as the importers 413. Alternatively, rather than using OS kernel notifications, an embodiment may use software calls from each application to a metadata processing software which receives these calls and then imports the metadata from each file in response to the call.
As noted above, the metadata database 415 may be stored in a flat file format in order to improve the speed of retrieval of information in most circumstances. The flat file format may be considered to be a non-B tree, non-hash tree format in which data is not attempted to be organized but is rather stored as a stream of data. Each metadata object or metadata file will itself contain fields, such as the fields shown in the examples of
A flexible query language may be used to search the metadata database in the same way that such query languages are used to search other databases. The data within each metadata file may be packed or even compressed if desirable. As noted above, each metadata file, in certain embodiments, will include a persistent identifier which uniquely identifies its corresponding data file. This identifier remains the same even if the name of the file is changed or the file is modified. This allows for the persistent association between the particular data file and its metadata.
User Interface Aspects
Various different examples of user interfaces for inputting search parameters and for displaying search results are provided herein. It will be understood that some features from certain embodiments may be mixed with other embodiments such that hybrid embodiments may result from these combinations. It will be appreciated that certain features may be removed from each of these embodiments and still provide adequate functionality in many instances.
The combination of text entry region 709 and the search parameter menu bar allow a user to specify a search query or search parameters. Each of the configurable pull down menus presents a user with a list of options to select from when the user activates the pull down menu. As shown in
It will also be appreciated that the various options in the pull down menus may depend upon the fields within a particular type of metadata file. For example, the selection of “images” to be searched may cause the various fields present in the metadata for an image type file to appear in one or more pull down menus, allowing the user to search within one or more of those fields for that particular type of file. Other fields which do not apply to “images” types of files may not appear in these menus in order reduce the complexity of the menus and to prevent user confusion.
Another feature of the present invention is shown in
The window 1001 includes an additional feature which may be very useful while analyzing a search result. A user may select individual files from within the display region 1005 and associate them together as one collection. Each file may be individually marked using a specific command (e.g. pressing the right button on a mouse and selecting a command from a menu which appears on the screen, which command may be “add selection to current group”) or similar such commands. By individually selecting such files or by selecting a group of files at once, the user may associate this group of files into a selected group or a “marked” group and this association may be used to perform a common action on all of the files in the group (e.g. print each file or view each file in a viewer window or move each file to a new or existing folder, etc.). A representation of this marked group appears as a folder in the user-configurable portion 1003A. An example of such a folder is the folder 1020 shown in the user-configurable portion 1003A. By selecting this folder (e.g. by positioning a cursor over the folder 1020 and pressing and releasing a mouse button or by pressing another button) the user, as a result of this selection, will cause the display within the display region 1005 of the files which have been grouped together or marked. Alternatively, a separate window may appear showing only the items which have been marked or grouped. This association or grouping may be merely temporary or it may be made permanent by retaining a list of all the files which have been grouped and by keeping a folder 1020 or other representations of the grouping within the user-configurable side bar, such as the side bar 1003A. Certain embodiments may allow multiple, different groupings to exist at the same time, and each of these groupings or associations may be merely temporary (e.g. they exist only while the search results window is displayed), or they may be made permanent by retaining a list of all the files which have been grouped within each separate group. It will be appreciated that the files within each group may have been created from different applications. As noted above, one of the groupings may be selected and then a user may select a command which performs a common action (e.g. print or view or move or delete) on all of the files within the selected group.
The window 1201 shown in
A column 1211 of window 1201 allows a user to select various search parameters by selecting one of the options which in turn causes the display of a submenu that corresponds to the selected option. In the case of
The window 1301 shown in
The search results user interface shown in
It will be appreciated that this method may employ various alternatives. For example, a window may appear after the command option 2232 or 2233 has been selected, and this window asks for a name for the new folder. This window may display a default name (e.g. “new folder”) in case the user does not enter a new name. Alternatively, the system may merely give the new folder or new storage facility a default path name. Also, the system may merely create the new folder and move or copy the items into the new folder without showing the new window as shown in
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will be evident that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.
Van Os, Marcel, Chaudhri, Imran, Ording, Bas, Arrouye, Yan, Tiene, Kevin, Giampaolo, Dominic, Christie, Gregory, Lemay, Stephen Olivier, Cisler, Pavel
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